An important lesson emerged in last night’s @CityofBend City Council transportation discussion: Wider intersections and extra lanes won’t work in the long-run to “solve” congestion #inBend #BendCC (Thread!)
A consultant presented this volume to capacity (V/C) map to show the modeled effects of several potential May 2020 transportation bond widening projects. Red dots mean lots of car traffic. @SallyForBend asked, Why can't the red dots on Greenwood be addressed? 
It’s a good question b/c streets like Greenwood or 3rd are already some of the biggest in Bend. If any streets in Bend have enough capacity to handle a higher volume of cars, surely these are them.
The consultant replied that there are plans to expand Greenwood and 8th intersection at a later date, but that it was impossible to add more capacity to Greenwood and 3rd b/c there's no space: bend.granicus.com/player/clip/53…
“Greenwood and 3rd is a fairly built out intersection, so we don’t have additional lanes in the project list. We have mobility hubs, high-capacity transit, and travel demand management in the longer term to help address that.”
-Chris Maciejewski, DKS Associates
-Chris Maciejewski, DKS Associates
Even though the consultant is focused on “how do we move the needle on congestion,” he acknowledges that there comes a point when “additional lanes” don't work.
So what happens 15 years from now after we've already "built out" other intersections and they are turning red?
So what happens 15 years from now after we've already "built out" other intersections and they are turning red?
If adding more lanes #inBend
- is hugely expensive
- bad for safety
- bad for health
- bad for climate change
AND isn’t even a long-term solution, then shouldn’t we prioritize the things that do work?
- is hugely expensive
- bad for safety
- bad for health
- bad for climate change
AND isn’t even a long-term solution, then shouldn’t we prioritize the things that do work?
We can save money by prioritizing relatively inexpensive long-term solutions like
- multimodal options (Safe Routes to Schools and Parks!)
- travel demand management
- right-pricing parking
- transit
- 15 min neighborhoods
- multimodal options (Safe Routes to Schools and Parks!)
- travel demand management
- right-pricing parking
- transit
- 15 min neighborhoods
Many cities learn too late that "one more lane" won't fix it.
With 50% more people moving here over 20 years, a lot depends on #BendCC priorities.
This is why if we want to make driving in Bend better, we have to make *not driving* better first.
With 50% more people moving here over 20 years, a lot depends on #BendCC priorities.
This is why if we want to make driving in Bend better, we have to make *not driving* better first.
